LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2005--The 10th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books takes place Saturday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on UCLA's campus.

The two-day celebration of the written word features a mix of panel discussions, book signings, poetry readings, cooking demonstrations and music. The Festival affords book lovers the chance to meet best-selling authors, publishers and celebrities. The hundreds of exhibitor booths, stage events and popular children's characters offer a cornucopia of choices for all ages.

General event information about the Festival, including a list of authors, is available at www.latimes.com/events. Information is also available by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK.

Admission is free, but tickets are required to attend author/panel discussions and lectures because of limited seating. Free tickets will be available at all Ticketmaster locations in Southern California starting Sunday, April 17, at noon until Thursday, April 21, at 5 p.m., or until all tickets have been distributed. A limited number of tickets will also be available on-site during the Festival.

Panel sessions focusing on current affairs include "Brave New World: Monopoly, Media & the Right to Know," "On the Front Lines: Covering War," "Scheherazade's Daughters: Women in the Middle East," "Discovering California," "Islam Now" and "Talkin' Baseball with Frank Deford and Bill Plaschke."

Other sessions will focus on:

Hollywood  "Hollywood and the Reds," "Witness to a Persecution: The Blacklist Revisited," "Fiction: Hollywood Confidential," "The Movie Biz: Making Deals and Cutting Throats," "Hollywood: Behind the Camera," and "From Page to Screen"

Politics  "America Looks Forward: Tapping the Politics of Fear," "Searching for a Civil Society: America's Contemporary Political Culture," "The Politics of Science," "Outsourcing Democracy: Can It Work?" and "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"

Canada Presents the Culinary Stage will proffer the insights of such luminaries as Tyler Florence, Giada de Laurentiis, and Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger.

The ETC. Stage will feature a variety of speakers and performers including Boondocks author Aaron McGruder, KPCC's Kitty Felde & the Book Club for Young Adults, Melvin Eddy Blues Band, WriteGirl and Kishin Daiko Japanese music & dance.

Target is the presenting sponsor of the 2005 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Barnes & Noble, Borders and the Canadian Tourism Commission are major sponsors, and C-SPAN, HBO and Geffen Playhouse are contributing sponsors. KCBS-2/KCAL-9 is the official television sponsor of the 2005 Festival of Books. Other media sponsors are Distinction Southern California magazine, ESPN Radio, Hoy, KABC-AM, KCRW-FM, KFWB-AM, KKJZ-FM, KPCC-FM, KPFK-FM and Radio Disney. The official ticket provider is Ticketmaster.

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Awards Ceremony

The 25th annual presentation of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes is set for Friday, April 22, at 8 p.m., in UCLA's Royce Hall. Best-selling mystery writer Tony Hillerman will receive the 25th annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes' Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement. Author/journalist Sir Harold Evans will emcee the event.

Tickets are required and are on sale at UCLA's Central Ticket Office (310-825-2101) and online at www.tickets.ucla.edu. (NOTE: Additional $2 handling fee for online ticket purchases.) Tickets are $14 for a reserved seat only and $60 for a buffet dinner (6-7:45 p.m.) with authors at the UCLA Faculty Center, prime reserved seat at Book Prizes event and convenient parking at Royce Hall.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, established in 1980, recognize outstanding literary achievements in biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction, history, mystery/thriller, poetry, science and technology, and young adult fiction. More information is available at www.latimes.com/bookprizes.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books--one of the nation's premier public literary festivals and the largest of its kind on the West Coast--was created in 1996 by The Times to promote literacy and to bring together those who create books with the people who love to read them. It is presented in association with UCLA.

The Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing company, is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country and the winner of 35 Pulitzer Prizes. The Times publishes five daily regional editions including the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Orange and Ventura counties, the San Fernando Valley, and an Inland Empire edition covering Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Additional information about The Times is available at www.latimes.com/mediacenter.